A US judge on 2 March seemed satisfied with a proposed $415m (£267m) settlement that would end a lawsuit in which tech workers accused Apple, Google and two other Silicon Valley companies of conspiring to hold down salaries.US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, had previously rejected an earlier $324.5m deal as too low. During a hearing on Monday, Koh raised no objections about the size of the settlement as she had at an earlier court session.While Koh did not formally rule from the bench on whether she would preliminarily approve the new deal, she set another hearing date for final sign off.The plaintiffs alleged that Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe agreed to avoid poaching each others employees, thus limiting job mobility and, as a result, keeping a lid on salaries.The antitrust class action lawsuit was filed in 2011. It has been closely watched because of the possibility that big damages might be awarded and for the opportunity to peek into the world of some of the United States elite tech firms.The case was based largely on emails in which Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, former Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt and some of their rivals detailed plans to avoid poaching each others prized engineers.In rejecting the $324.5 million deal, Koh repeatedly referred to a related 2013 settlement involving Disney and Intuit. Apple and Google workers got proportionally less than Disney workers, Koh wrote, even though plaintiff lawyers had much more leverage against Apple and Google.To match the earlier settlement, the deal with Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe would need to total at least $380 million, Koh wrote. Closeread more

BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed addresses a discussion at the National Press Club on Friday. Photo: Abdus SalamBNP senior leader Moudud Ahmed on Friday urged the voters to get united and cast their votes on 30 December under any situation to free Khaleda Zia from jail and get rid of the “misrule and oppression of the current government”, reports UNB.”I would like to tell the voters that this is your time. You take oath that you’ll cast your votes. This is a struggle of the country’s 100 million voters, not only of the BNP and Jatiya Oikya Front,” he said.Speaking at a discussion, he further said “I call upon all to convince voters that this is the last chance to free Khaleda Zia and get rid of the repression of the current government.”Adarsha Nagarik Andalan and Jatiya Nagarik Andalan jointly organised the programme at National Press Club.Moudud, a BNP standing committee member, said a mass wave has been created in favour of the ‘Sheaf of Paddy’, the electoral symbol of the BNP, across the country and the ruling party will not be able to tackle it, if people can cast their votes.”That’s why we should persuade the voters that they must go to polling stations braving all obstacles, threats and intimidations. We must put up a strong resistance if they (AL) create any obstacles. We have no other alternative to it,” he added.He also asked the BNP leaders and activists not to get frustrated but to make their all-out efforts to get success in the struggle of vote by mobilising people.”I also call upon all to keep in touch with people and organise them to win the election. We have no chance to lose this time as people are with us,” the BNP leader said.He said people are ready to give a befitting reply to the ‘misdeeds’ of the current government through ballots.read more

Faruq Hossain. Photo: Prothom Alo“I won’t spend excesively or buy expensive clothes. I’ll spend one fourth of my salary on education for children of poor families.” Armed with this oath, 32-year-old Faruq Hossain has been working in a remote area of Dinajpur sadar upazila for the last 10 years.Faruq is from Malipukur village in Auliapur union of Dinajpur sadar upazila. He is an assistant to a truck driver of Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC).He spends 25 per cent of his monthly salary of Tk 14,900 for the education of poor people’s children. He takes care of his four-member family, comprising himself, his mother Sanwara Begum, wife Sabera Akhter and two-and-a-half-year-old son Sabbir Hossain with rest of the money.Faruq distributes education material among the students every Friday and Saturday. He also has set up a centre for educating adults at his house.In recognition of his initiatives, Faruq was awarded by the prime minister Sheikh Hasina on 13 March this year.The Malipukur village is 4.5 kilometres away off Dinajpur sadar upazila. On 10 February, the Prothom Alo correspondents visited Faruq’s home. He lives in a dilapidated mud-house. Relatives said Faruq’s father Mahbub Hossain passed away in 2006. He was a labourer at BADC. Faruq also joined as a labourer at BADC in 2002.All the labourers used to draw their wages with thumbprints as they were not literate and could not sign their names. Faruq studied up to the eighth grade. He started educating his fellow workers so that everyone would be able to sign their names to draw their wages.Saving his pocket-money along with some taken from his father, Faruq bought 200 taka worth of pens and papers for the labourers. Gradually he imparted basic literacy to all of them. Delighted, a driver Naresh Chandra taught Faruq how to drive. Faruq then joined as a temporary driver at the office of the deputy director of BADC in Rajshahi in 2007. Later on 16 July that year, he was appointed as an assistant to the truck driver and transferred to Rangpur BADC office. Since then, he is working as a driver of BADC joint director (seed processing centre) AFM Saiful Islam.Unlike others, Faruq did not stop there. “I had a dream to be self-sufficient after completing my studies. But poverty cut my dreams short when I was an eighth grader at Cheradangi High School. That’s why I decided to help those who could not continue studying due to poverty,” said Faruq to Prothom Alo.Faruq said the studies of Nur Islam from Kashimpur Mahanpara village came to a halt due to lack of education material and proper clothes in July 2008. He went to Nur Islam’s home and gave his mother 3000 taka. Nur Islam is now a student at Dinajpur Government College.In December that year, Faruq held a meeting with the seniors of the village. He told them he would not eat paan (betel leaf), smole cigarettes or buy expensive clothes. Instead he will help students from poor families. In 2009, he bought education material and clothes for 20 students with 25 per cent of his salary and admitted them to school. As of now, Faruq said, he has helped almost 2,000 students of the union.Ninth grader Zahid Hossain, eighth grader Amena and seventh grader Abdus Sattar at Cheradangi High School are some of the students from poor families who received Faruq’s help.When Sima Akhter from Malipukur village was a fifth grader, her father Samirul Islam went missing. Her mother arranged her marriage after three months. But the marriage was halted when Faruq pledged to take care of her education. Sima is now an eighth grader at Sikderganj Girls High School.“Faruq uncle has given me a new life. I want to be a physician,” Sima told Prothom Alo.Another student of Sikderganj Girls High School, Tanjila Khatun, showing her schoolbag, said, “Faruq uncle has bought this for me. He also has given me money for private tuition.”The school’s head teacher of Zakir Hossain said, “Faruq has been showing us the potential of dropout students. He also works to raise awareness to keep the village free of drugs and to ensure road safety. He also plants trees to keep the environment cool.”Kashimpur Government Primary School’s head teacher Jalal Uddin said, “Faruq distributes pens, pencils, papers and other stationery to students of different schools twice in a month. He also goes to the house to inquire if any student remains absent at school. This is why cent per cent children of Kashimpur attend school.”Faruq uses his bicycle to go from one school to another. There are several awareness raising stickers stuck to his bicycle against taking drugs, for road safety and against child marriage, etc.Mousumi Khatun was married off when she was an eighth grader. Her in-laws were against her studies. Faruq persuaded her in-laws to allow her to study and took charge of Mousumi’s education.“The dreams of many girls like me are being fulfilled thanks to Faruq uncle. Now I’m studying in college,” Mousumi said.Auliapur union parishad chairman Abdur Razzak considers Faruq a social welfare activist. He was recognised as such on 13 March this year when the prime minister Sheikh Hasina handed over a medal at a programme organised marking National Primary Education Week at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.Adult education centre at homeFaruq has opened an adult education centre at home where his wife Sabera Akhter teaches adults of the village.Faruq married Sabera of Boaldhar village in Baliadangi of Thakurgaon in 2010. She was a ninth grader then.“I resumed studies upon Faruq’s insistence. In 2011, I took up diploma in agriculture at KBM College in Dinajpur. Now I’m a bachelor degree student at Open University,” Sabera told Prothom Alo.An older woman Shirin Akhter said there was no one in the village who cannot write his/her name.“Maybe Faruq has not given us material wealth, but we’re living with honour for his efforts,” Sabera said.Faruq said he does not work for awards. “I started working so that no one of my area lives in the darkness of illiteracy. This will continue until the dropout rate comes down to zero.”*The report appeared in the print edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Shameem Rezaread more

Dhaka University students who have won Peer to Peer – Facebook Digital Challenge recently. Photo: CollectedA group of students from Dhaka University took part in the Peer to Peer – Facebook Digital Challenge, an international contest that took place in Brussels and won first prize. A member of the group, Sausan Suha, writes about their experience:The name ‘Positive Bangladesh’ reflects our work. I’ll go back a few months to explain how our efforts against extremism led us to Brussels and how we won the Peer to Peer – Facebook Digital Challenge.The four of us – Tausif Tanzim Ahmed, Samin Yasar and myself from Dhaka University’s department of international relations and Zulqarnain Tasin of the robotics and mechatronics department – got to know each other from the very beginning of our university lives. We would hang out together though we were quite different from each other.Tasin is still undecided in life, Samin is all about music, Tausif keeps the campus alive with his activities and I am a jack of all trades, master of none!Once we were having a heavy discussion and debate about the behaviour of the people on social media. There were people who used the social media to spread all sort of negativities, vent their anger and frustration and divisive thoughts. But why? Was it because of the country’s socio-economic condition, lack of education or simply very personal frustrations?We read up on the issue and talked to all sorts of people. Samin’s house became our base. Then we were joined by Saif Mostafiz of Dhaka University’s biochemistry and molecular biology department and younger brother Adib Reza.We primarily observed that there was one group of people who regularly sent out negativities. The question arose, would it be possible for such negativities to impact the girl who was studying hard to go abroad for higher studies, the boy who was devoted to inventing something new, the one who was determined to become a fashion designer, or the boy who spend all his time on the field, dreaming of playing in the World Cup one day?We started a survey. We came to the conclusion that it was much easier to influence a purposeless and unfocussed person towards extremism than those who were involved in any activity, honing their talents, busy with creative work.We set up a simple goal. We would work against negativity, work to build up a positive environment. Many youth were failing to create an identity of their own simply due to the lack of opportunity and information. They were leaning towards depression. We began working towards informing them about all sorts of opportunities and possibilities. We organised all sorts of events, conferences and workshops, thus beginning our Positive Bangladesh initiative.We have a website . Its objective is to send out positive vibes and we like to call it am ‘opportunity hub’. We have our own Instagram and Facebook profile too, as well as a blog to spread out positivity. We even have comic strips and stop-motion videos to tell various interesting stories.Then offline we have our Ways to Engage campaign which we take to various schools, encouraging students to take part in various activities. The next step is Inspire to Engage. Members of the new generation share their inspirational stories from this platform.So far our most popular ‘invention’ is Hundred Days of Positivity which is a 100-day story series of inspiring news from all over the country. We have more initiatives in the pipeline.We had been spending from our own pockets to run all these initiatives and just when all our resources were more or less exhausted, we took part in the UNDP and ICT Division Bangladesh Digital Khichuri Challenge and became the runners up. That was a great source of encouragement for us and revived our spirit.Hoping for further funds, we took part on the Peer to Peer Facebook Global Digital Challenge Spring 2019. This contest was organised to spread the message against the propensity towards extremism and was financed every semester by Facebook and organised by Adventures Partners. How exciting it was to learn that we were among the top three groups, along with one from Spain and one from Nigeria!Then there was the hassle of getting visas and preparing to go – let’s leave that story for another day! We defeated around 500 universities from around the world to win the first prize – 5000 US dollars! We are happily going around Europe in an effort to expand our network further.We are joined by two more students of Dhaka University now – Mahdi Hasan of the economics department and Mohammad Sifat of the international relations department. Their inspiration has taken us further ahead. We are grateful to so many, many more people, but the list is too long to fit in here.We are receiving such encouraging response from young ones that our commitment to this work is simply increasing. There is still a long way to go, to show thousands of young people that they can make their dreams come true. We have worked hard on this project but all those sleepless nights will be well worth it if we can spread the light of hope all around.*This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabirread more